Jefferson Airplane - Crown of Creation

What a pleasure to hear a great album for the first time and really connect with it. I've been working my way through the Jefferson Airplane catalogue, drawn in first by the obvious White Rabbit. And then my interest was piqued by discussion around the mono vs. stereo mixes of Surrealistic Pillow. Next step was the Sundazed reissue of the mono mix, which underwhelmed. And then the DCC stereo, which opened the door for me.

You'd think I'd have learned from the Sundazed experience, but unable to resist a bargain, I found sealed copies of the mono After Bathing at Baxters and Takes Off at Other Music for $7.98 each (they retail at $18.99). Neither album has really made an impact. But this evening, the stereo Crown of Creation (first pressing in only VG condition from the dollar bin) has me enthralled. Right away (and this is always telling), I want to clean up my copy, pick up the expanded CD for bonus tracks, and the Mobile Fidelity LP for comparison. Not to mention picking up more copies of the first pressing to find a quiet one. Ah, the obsessive quality kicks in.

And then there's the Speakers Corner reissue of Volunteers (OK, so I've yet to listen to my first pressing to even know if the material appeals). I've a couple of other as yet unplayed Airplane LPs on the shelf already. Mojo covered Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire as a "buried treasure" this month, and that still seems to crop up in dollar bins, so there's more to explore.

The sound effects on Crown of Creation are fun, particularly on headphones. The whole sound takes me back to the Haight in 1992, hearing Paul Kantner's outdoor concert under the Jefferson Starship name in Golden Gate Park. At the time, along with hearing the Grateful Dead, and basking in Beat writer landmarks, this symbolized everything I loved about San Francisco.

Grado rules

For a long while there, we were a one phonograph household. I had destroyed the Grado cartridge with my noodling, and wasn't ready to drop $80 to replace it. I emailed Grado Labs in Brooklyn to see if there were other options. They suggested sending the cartridge in so that they could check it out.

Well, a few days later, a package arrives from sender John Grado, and they've replaced the cartridge AT NO CHARGE.

That made my week. I popped in the Grado Gold stylus, and was up and running in maybe 15 minutes. It sounded great, even before any burn in.

I'll certainly keep Grado top of mind for cartridges as I explore mono and 78RPM cartridge options.